‘GOOD NEWS': council agrees up to 1,800 extra parking slots

PEOPLE with parking permits in Reading should find it easier to park after council chiefs approved up to 1,800 extra residents spaces.

The decision to free up between 1,100 and 1,800 new residents' parking slots follows a major review in September and October of a controversial new permit scheme which suffered a troubled start just six months ago.

The increase will make it easier for permit holders to park and cut the mismatch between the 8,200 permits issued and the existing 5,300 residents' parking spaces available in the town's crowded streets.

But even if the maximum 1,800 extra spaces are found, there will still be more than 1,000 permit holders without a place to park.

Some areas of Reading will remain especially congested with no guarantees of a parking space.

In some areas, improvements for the people who live there will be a trade-off for greater restrictions on other motorists.

John Howarth, lead councillor for strategic planning and transport, said: "This comprehensive review should ensure there are sufficient spaces to meet the current level of resident permits in the majority of the zones around Reading, though not in every single case.

"Nonetheless it is good news and clearly the sort of move that most residents want to see." He added: "The principle of the review is that where there are yellow lines, there needs to be a clear reason for them - usually safety and emergency access.

"That way the majority of drivers observe the restrictions and it is clear why they are enforced."

Members of the traffic management advisory panel were told on Monday that council traffic staff had identified more than 1,100 and possibly as many as 1,800 new residents' parking spaces around the town, which is an increase of between 21 and 33 per cent.

Taking the lower figure, they believed they could create 230 spaces by removing double yellow lines on some streets and 160 by removing single yellow lines.

A further 650 round-the-clock spaces would be provided by converting parking bays currently shared with other motorists into resident-only zones.

Residents had complained that their permits were only effective during daytime hours in the week and that at weekends and nights they were squeezed out by motorists taking advantage of two-hour restricted parking.

A further 75 spaces for residents' parking will be created by converting other bays used for on-street limited waiting.

Details of exactly where the new parking spaces should go have still to be discussed with councillors for each of the wards involved, including Abbey, Battle, Caversham, Katesgrove, Minster, Norcot, Park and Redlands, before proposals are formally advertised in local papers in December or January.

Objections would be reported to a future meeting of the advisory panel, and changes introduced between March and May next year.

The new residents' parking scheme introduced in March restricted the number of permits issued to two per household and imposed a £50 fee for the first time on the second permit.

Furious protests from families with adult children living at home and from people in flats and bedsits prompted a u-turn with councillors promising to consider applications for extra permits if people could prove they needed them. In practice most are turned down.

Enforcement of the new scheme was put on hold for a month when thousands of permits were delayed in the post.

More than 200 people, backed by MP Martin Salter and ward councillors in West Reading, signed a petition calling for the removal of yellow lines and the extension of parking bays in Audley Street, Valentia Road, Catherine Street and Curzon Street.

Groups such as the Samaritans in Cholmeley Road and Reading Bowling Club in Kendrick Road said parking restrictions threatened their operation.

Residents in Stanley Grove, off George Street, petitioned Monday's meeting for an extension of the residents' parking area and fewer limited waiting spaces.